For me it’s trying to be going every shift,” Henrique explained. “Have my legs going and be involved in the game physically winning puck battles. I need to focus on doing that every shift every game, to be hard to play against. Be a pain to play against. When I’m involved in the game like that is when I’m playing my best.

“Not like a pest. Somebody who’s always winning puck battles and always playing hard on the puck. Getting in there and making it tough on the other team. Not turning into a pest out there, starting scraps or stuff like that. I’m not looking to start any big fights or anything.”

The 23-year-old forward is average-sized, if not flat-out small, so staying out of scuffles would probably serve him best. Granted, some of the most pesky forwards were under-sized (Claude Lemieux was no behemoth and Theo Fleury’s sprite-like frame powered his rage), but the Devils would probably prefer to see Henrique create goals instead of havoc.

In other Devils news, it appears that Andrei Loktionov will get back in the lineup tonight against the Winnipeg Jets, sliding Jacob Josefson out of the lineup and pushing Henrique back to left wing.